The ARR is defined as the number of confirmed relapses in a year. A relapse is defined as the appearance of a new or worsening of a previously stable or improving pre-existing neurological abnormality, separated by at least 30 days from onset of a preceding relapse. The abnormality must be present for at least 24 hours and occur in the absence of fever or infection. The annualized ARR for each treatment group was the mean of the annualized ARRs for all patients in the group calculated as the total number of confirmed relapses divided by the total number of days on study, multiplied by 365.25.

Secondary Outcome Measures:

Percentage of Patients Free of Disability Progression at Month 24 Assessed With the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) [ Time Frame: Baseline to end of study (Month 24) ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]

EDSS assesses disability in 8 functional systems. An overall score ranging from 0 (normal) to 10 (death due to MS) is calculated. Disability progression was determined by the following: One point increase from baseline in patients with baseline EDSS score from 0 to 5.0; or half a point increase in patients with baseline EDSS score of 5.5 or above. A 3-month confirmed disability progression required onset EDSS, 3-month confirming EDSS, and all EDSS in between to meet the disability progression criteria. Percent of free of disability progression was calculated using the Kaplan Meier method.

Number of New or Newly Enlarged T2 Lesions at Month 24 in Comparison With Baseline [ Time Frame: Baseline to end of study (Month 24) ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]

The number of new or newly enlarged T2 lesions at Month 24 in comparison to baseline was assessed with T2-weighted magnetic resonance image (MRI) scans. A T2-weighted MRI scan utilizes particular values of the echo time (TE) and the repetition time (TR) parameters of image acquisition. Inflammation and tissue damage are seen as bright areas in T2 images and are often referred to as T2 lesions. T2-weighted MRI scans are a sensitive way to evaluate the brain for demyelinating diseases, such as multiple sclerosis.

Other protocol-defined inclusion/exclusion criteria applied to this study.

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Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00289978